Chapter Ten: The Feudal Era

After Sun Li returned to the camp, he settled the military affairs and went to his bedroom on the second floor of the town center.

"Xiao Bai, I’ve met the requirements now, haven’t I? I wiped out the Wild Wolf tribe, which was a mid-level settlement, and killed around six thousand orcs in total. I should be able to upgrade to the Feudal Era now. I can’t wait to see what the peak of cold weaponry you described looks like," Sun Li said excitedly.

"Host has completed the upgrade task and met the requirements. Please confirm the upgrade to the Feudal Era," came the mechanical system prompt in his mind.

"Confirm!" Although Sun Li didn’t understand why Xiao Bai suddenly became so rigid, his excitement over the upgrade made him ignore this slight oddity.

"Beep beep, system is integrating with the plane, please wait," the system continued, ignoring Sun Li’s impatience.

"Ding, congratulations to the host for upgrading to the Feudal Era. All products of the cold weapon era are now fully unlocked! The system has merged with nearly half of the plane. All system characters’ intelligence has been improved to the level of elite troops, while their strength remains unchanged!

Special profession summoning is now available: diplomat, merchant, spy, technical civilian (such as blacksmiths, cooks, brewers, and all living professions of the feudal era), at the same price as farmers. Farmers can also change professions to any living occupation, but only once! From now on, farmers will only farm and build.

With further integration, buildings constructed by farmers are no longer limited to system designs. As long as there are blueprints or guidance from a master, farmers can theoretically build any structure, aiding the host in more comprehensive development. However, non-system buildings will be constructed at the same speed as native skilled workers.

Native follower army summoning is unlocked: the host can view the loyalty of all native armies who have sworn allegiance. Loyalty is capped at 100; below 60, they may betray at any time; below 30 indicates spies from enemy forces.

Population cap is further raised, from 1,000 to 10,000. Troops summoned with points are not counted toward this limit.

Native population monitoring system is unlocked: when the host governs regions with natives who have not sworn loyalty, the system scans the area—black dots for system characters, green for compliant natives, yellow for neutral natives, red for suspicious, resistant, or hostile natives. Please clear them out promptly to avoid trouble!

Friendly reminder: The system now aligns with reality. Soldiers produced will only require gold coins. The conversion rate of minerals to gold coins is reduced; it’s best to use resources directly for production, such as using iron ore for forging weapons and armor. Food resources are no longer convertible for production; they are purely for nutrition (meaning, only for eating!). Wood and stone can only be used for building. The host is encouraged to collect more gold and silver to bolster coin reserves—for gold coins, what a glorious battle cry!

The imperial system of the Feudal Era is essentially no different from reality. Please explore the specific changes yourself," the system concluded.

"The changes in the Feudal Era are really dramatic!" After reading the lengthy description, Sun Li couldn’t help but sigh.

With the upgrade to the Feudal Era, many new buildings were now available:

Stables—the production site for cavalry, the main force of the Feudal Era. With this, the dream of a thousand galloping horses is no longer out of reach.

Stone walls and gates—essential for building cities and fortresses, greatly enhancing your sense of security.

Watchtowers—garrisoned troops can attack enemy units entering their field of vision and provide early warning.

Marketplace—for trading and exchanging resources with other factions. (If short on gold coins, you can sell wood and food here, but the prices are ruthlessly exploitative and drop even further the more you sell. You can also buy wood and food with gold coins, but unless you’re a fool, no one actually does this.)

Monastery—produces monks. Monks are cheap, but besides stabilizing morale and persuading prisoners to surrender, their combat ability is virtually zero. (Don’t expect clergy to perform miracles on the battlefield; they are best kept in the rear.)

Castle—the strongest defensive structure of the Feudal Era. Placing it in a key location provides formidable protection, and it can also produce most ordinary troop types. (Use it well, and your territory will be much safer!)

Workshop and foundry—produce all kinds of siege and defensive machinery. They bring you the tools needed to win city battles.

Only these buildings benefit from the system’s construction speed; many other living and production structures must be built slowly, just like in reality.

As for resource consumption, Sun Li ignored it completely. With abundant timber, construction was never an issue for him. However, his once-plentiful gold coin reserves immediately became tight; those impressive, powerful troops could now only be recruited in limited numbers. He didn’t know where to find a gold mine, and the conversion of other minerals to gold coins was pitifully small.

The greatest benefit of this system upgrade is that it allows me to control natives more effectively, and special professions will help me integrate with other forces in this world, avoiding the scenario where enemies surround me on all sides.

Having clarified the system’s upgraded rules, Sun Li began laying out his development plan:

First, raise the civilian population (including farmers and all technical civilians) to 500 in preparation for large-scale construction.

Second, plan the city; housing for 10,000 people is enough to sustain a city. Transform the town center into a lord’s manor—at the very least, he wouldn’t have to sleep on a wooden board anymore! Then assign a few servants; hmm, maids seem a bit decadent. Sun Li’s thoughts drifted off course.

An hour later, he decided to put that aside for now—indulgence leads to ruin, and this was not the time for enjoyment! Sun Li finally reaffirmed his resolve, though Xiao Bai doubted this vow would last long.

Once the major city buildings were complete, he would reassign farmers as needed. Five hundred people should be enough to maintain the army’s logistics. After all, system farmers are absolutely loyal, so squeezing them a bit wouldn’t be a problem.

Three hours later, with Xiao Bai’s help, Sun Li finally completed the planning for the civil administration and logistics system.

Next came the most important task—building the army. Unfortunately, despite having a seemingly large amount of gold coins, summoning a force of over nine thousand was clearly not feasible. Sun Li buried himself in calculations, searching for cost-effective, battlefield-suitable troop types.

In Sun Li's struggles and Xiao Bai's teasing, the day quickly passed amid the feverish pace of city construction.